April
28, 1992: C-130E, 64-0501, c.n. 3985, of the 317th Tactical Airlift
Wing, fitted with All Weather Airborne Delivery System, AWADS, lizard
paint scheme as of August 1991, crashed into Blewett Falls Lake, North
Carolina.
A footnote from the Webmaster; I was attending the county fire
commission meeting in Mt. Gilead the evening of April 28th. As the
meeting was concluding, a mutual aid request was received from
neighboring Anson County regarding the possible crash of a C-130 into
Blewett Falls Lake. We responded with a dive rescue team and
arrived just north of Lilesville within 25 minutes. There we found
most of the aircraft submerged in the lake with only the tail section
visible from the shore. As we suited up divers, and sent them to
the crash site, day turned to night and the search became more
difficult. Early into the rescue effort, the first of what was
initially reported as 19 soles on board, was brought to shore. A
temporary morgue was established once we learned that in addition to the
flight crew, an Australian military crew was on board as well.
The call to 9-1-1 was placed by employees of the Anson County Water
Plant who observed the C-130 make several passes over the lake and
circling around to pass over the lake again. We were later told
there were 9 on board instead of 19.
By 2200 that evening, military rescue officials from Pope Air Force Base
and Fort Bragg had arrived and civilian response capabilities continued
for a period assisting the Air Force Rescue personnel. Later that
night, it was determined that the it was unlikely that we would find
survivors and the order was given by military command to transfer all
operations to their responders. We demobilized and returned to
Montgomery County by early morning.
Additional information can be found in the New York
Times at:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D91438F93AA15757C0A964958260
Photo top left is found at:
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/images/AIR_C-130J_lg.jpg
A note from the
webmaster: this aircraft did not burn since it crashed into a lake.
Since this site is dedicated to burn related disaster events, I
debated including this crash in this body of work. Nevertheless,
crash investigators did report that only due to the fact that the
aircraft did crash into the lake, did the crash not include a fire.
Furthermore, since this listing catalogues aircraft crashes that
were significant events, I decided to include it. Thanks.
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12/12/08
